A/N: A big thanks to all of my readers! You guys mean so much to me. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters; Stephanie Meyer does.
Bella's Point of View
Edward shrugged, and got out his phone. He dialed Alice's number, and waited. It went directly to voicemail. He growled and left a short message:
"Alice, it's Edward. Where are you? Call me back."
He flipped the phone shut and put it in his pocket.
Then he paused, and I assumed he was searching the thoughts of people on the street to see if he heard Alice. He finally slid his eyes to mine and said, "Well, we know she's not in Volterra. We should get out of here, and then search for her."
I agreed, and Edward took my hand. We silently slinked through the shadows together.
Or, it was more like he silently slinked through the shadows and I just tried my best not to trip.
"When was the last time you saw her?" Edward asked me, when we had reached the entrance to Volterra.
"Right here. She was in a car, and she told me to go. She didn't say anything about going anywhere else."
Edward sighed and shook his head. "I wouldn't be surprised if she had gone off shopping." (LOL…I got that idea from a review)
I chuckled weakly. It was a possibility.
"Let's go to the airport," Edward suggested. "Maybe she went to buy tickets home for us." His voice didn't sound convinced, but it was better than nothing.
Edward quickly hijacked a small Mercedes, and then we were off. We reached the airport quickly, and then Edward parked the car and we started to head towards to entrance. But, waiting for us right there in the middle of the parking lot, was Alice.
She smiled. "I saw that you were coming here."
"Alice!" Edward hissed. "Where have you been?"
"Nice to see you too, Edward," Alice replied.
"Good to see you, Alice. Now where have you been?"
Alice suddenly looked sheepish, and I was sure that if she had been human her face would have been bright red.
"Well?" Edward pressed when she didn't respond.
"I... uh… I actually got arrested."
"Arrested?" Edward growled. "For what?"
"Stealing that Porsche was a bad idea," Alice muttered, looking down at her feet. "It turned out the owner called the police when he saw his car was gone, and they found me pretty easily."
"I can't believe you got arrested," Edward said, his voice strained. "I can't believe it."
"Hey!" Alice interjected angrily. "I'd already seen that everything was going to go smoothly! If I saw that a problem was going to arise, I would have broken out and helped you!"
Edward sighed and let it drop.
"Let's go home," I suggested.
"Already?" Alice asked, sounding like a little kid. "But I haven't even gotten to shop here yet… are you sure you don't want to go to Rome? Just for a day?"
Edward chuckled and I shook my head. "Nope. Let's just go home."
Alice sighed heavily and muttered to herself. Edward chuckled again and we made our way into the airport.
A half hour later, we were on a plane in the first class, Edward and I sitting next to each other and Alice sitting across the aisle. She was pouting and staring out the window angrily.
I was excited to be spending the whole flight with Edward, but that excitement disappeared about twenty minutes after we took off, when Edward fingered the bruise on my cheek again.
"Are you ready to tell me what happened now?"
No. Not really.
Well, he had to find out some time.
So I sighed, and spoke the dreaded words:
"Charlie started abusing me."
Edward's Point of View
The moment she spoke those horrid words, I was consumed with a rage so powerful that I was literally seeing red.
"Edward?" asked Bella, whose face was tinted a light orange, "Are you okay?"
I realized how frightening I must look to her. I always started to look like a… well, a vampire when I got really angry. I just nodded stiffly and tried my hardest to unclench my fists.
It took me a full hour, but I finally contained my anger enough to be able to speak again.
"What did he do?"
"He just hit me, mostly. He kicked me on one occasion." She winced at the memory. "I actually think he may have broken a rib or two. But I'm fine, really." I sighed and shook my head. She had gotten abused by her father, and she was trying to comfort me, to convince me that she was fine.
"I'm not letting you go back to him," I muttered, and Bella's eyes widened.
"I can't just not come home," she protested. "Just let me go there when we get back, and let me show him that I'm alive. He's probably thinking that I got kidnapped or ran away or something."
"Why do you have to do that? After what he's done to you, he doesn't deserve peace of mind."
"Please?" she pleaded, turning the overwhelming force of her eyes on me. Why did she have to do that?
"Fine," I agreed reluctantly. "But just for tonight. And I'll be with you every minute. I won't let him hurt you."
"Okay," she quickly agreed. "But what about after that? Where should I stay?"
I sighed heavily. "Bella, you are completely and utterly ridiculous."
"What?" She looked at me blankly.
"You're going to stay with me and my family."
Her eyes grew wide. "Oh no, I don't want to intrude on you guys…"
"You're not intruding!" Alice called from across the aisle, turning many heads. "Please come stay with us, please! We can be shopping partners!"
Bella's face paled at that.
"You shouldn't have mentioned that last part, Alice," I said so quickly no humans could have heard me. She gave me an angelic smile. "Oh, come on. She's going to say yes."
I took my eyes off my annoying sister and returned them to Bella. "Please, Bella? It'd make everyone so happy. Especially Carlisle and Esme. Emmett and Jasper would love it, too."
She pursed her lips. "What about Rosalie?"
"Rosalie is not an issue. She doesn't hate you, Bella. Remember, she's just jealous."
Bella sighed. "Are you sure I wouldn't be intruding?"
"Quite the opposite, Bella."
"Okay," she finally agreed with a yawn.
"Why don't you get some sleep?" I suggested. "You look exhausted."
She nodded weakly and leaned her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. Soon, her breathing grew slower and heavier as she slept. It was just like it used to be, me holding her while she slept, but yet so much had changed.
I guess that was something that the universe could never take away.
